The Great Shah Abbas Essay -- Isfahan Ali Qapu Interior Design Essays

The Great Shah Abbas The Great Shah Abbas I reigned from 1588-1629. He was a ruler who relocated the capital from Saljuq to Isfahan, in the center of the country. This was his test to centralize political and religious authority, develop capital, and institute Safavid Iran as a world power, both economically and politically. Shah Abbas began his renovations with the transformation of the little Timurid palace into the Ali Qapu, or sublime port an entrance to the royal gardens. Abbas made it his headquarters spot his architects began the creation, under his direction and often under his personal supervision, of his new capital. Abbas built the Ali Qapu with a balcony from which he was able to observe the activities in the court on a lower floor him. The columned porch provided an elevated reviewing stand for royalty and guests. The interior is embellish with hiatus plaster vaults that are decorated like Chinese porcelains, similar to Iranian lusterware. The live are dec orated in red, white, blue and gold, the walls painted with landscapes and hunt down scenes, the floors covered with carpets of silk and gold. There are figure paintings on the walls of the upper boards that are blandly erotic. In front of the Ali Qapu there is a immaterial shaped pool filled with water. The water was transported to the pool by gist of hydraulic machines worked by oxen. The upper level contained a music room at the very top of the building. The Music room was intricately decorated with small niches that were filled with glass, pottery, enameled metal and semi-precious stones, this may have been an attempt to better the acoustics of the room. The threshold of the main gateway was regarded with high respect during Safavid times... ...utifully decorated with a wide range of colors. The entrance portal is covered with a Mosaic of many colored pieces cut from larger pieces and fitted together to form coordination compound patterns. It has been estimated that 18 million bricks and half a million tiles were used in the building of the Shah Mosque. These were the principal buildings of Shah Abbass reign. In the short span of his reign, Isfahan had been alter into a great metropolis of its time. Abbas was successful in his attempt to take a shit a city that could compare to the great cities of Christendom, and the beauty of Isfahan and the buildings he constructed leave alone be studied and admired forever. BibliographyBlunt, Wilfrid. Isfahan, Pearl of Persia. (New York Stein and Day Publishers, 1966.) 208 pgs.Bloom, Jonathan and Sheila Blair. Moslem Arts. (London Phaidon Press, 1997.) 446 Pgs.